Best sound per pound on cd reproduction

I enjoyed the "tell me about your cd player. Since acquisition of nakimichi cd player 2 . I realise than cd can produce a sound Quality that,s better than background music.
I,m not rich, but knowmy way around ebay, and have magazines going back to 80,s.
Simple. 80,s to 90,s high end players ie Denon dvd 1500 mk2 or newer player, ie cambridge adzur, or the Linn, majic, mimic. Karik (these really appeal.

What am i looking for? Ummm. Very clear treble, nice mid range bass, umm , tight and well defined,
Above all , musical. Help?

 

I see a lot of people looked at this thread but did not reply.

That is because your question is not clear. You want to know what CD player to buy? Vintage?

Magnavox CDB-650 is a classic I am fond of. And there were some later Marantz versions IIRC. Both of which could be modified to even better specs.

But what is the rest of your system? If you are running a surround receiver, I might say to just get a basic player and output HDMI to the built-in DAC. Another school of though would be to buy one of the Oppo players which seem well regarded.

Have you any desire to play DVD-Audio and/or SACD discs?

 

Have you considered just a DAC instead of a CD player? You can use a CD player as a transport and use the digital out to a DAC.

If you're looking for a musical sounding digital look at the Schiit Multibit DACs. Schiit has three multibit flavors of DACs. The Yggdrasil at $2300, the Gungnir Multibit at $1250, and the Bifrost Multibit at $600. I have the Gungnir Multibit. It's musical and everything else you're looking for. I love it. It's musical and reveals soooo much of what's in a 16-bit CD. The Bifrost Multibit is likely similar qualities. It's been described as musical. I'd buy one in a heartbeat if I was looking for a musical sounding 16-bit reasonably affordable DAC to use with a CD transport. What Schiit has done with their multibit DACs at the price they are at is just flippin amazing. I like the Gungnir Multibit soooo much. So musical, especially compared to even excellent modern DACs like my LH Labs Geek Pulse Xfi that uses a ESS Sabre DAC chip. The Schiit multibit is better and more musical. Here's a thread on the Schiit Bifrost Multibit.

 

I'm really glad I got a used BiFrost in the classifieds here. It was a bargain then and more so now since just $250 gets me the multi-bit upgrade. I saw your comments in another thread about the Gungir which made me really glad I waited to upgrade my standard unit (skipped the Uber upgrade). I'm excited to hear what this multi-bit business is all about!

 

S

Sorry for not being clearer, tired, perhaps.
Do i buy recent ie 5 years old or less , or a vintage heavy weight? Has digital sound advanced much?
Nowadays advancement can mean just made cheaper.
Will check out the recommendations kindly given. Thank you.

 

Have you seen the MHZS CD88H player from China Hifi? Top loader,HDCD,tube output stage and decent reviews for the low price of about $670 USD.At the higher end the Doge CD 6 Clarity ($1890) has a differential tube stage and competes with players in the $5-6k range at least in midrange and highs.If I was looking for JUST a CD player I'd go for either of these before spending for Magnetic Line or Rega.Especially with the MHZS with a few key tweaks/upgrades that player would be really something!

 

My favorite budget cdp on the used market would be the Rotel 1070 or 1072. Next up would be the NAD C541i or 542. If a dac would suffice, I'd say the PS Audio DLIII.
The cdps I've listed could be under $200 and the dac less than $300. I think the dac would be the better option.

 

I have a 1998ish vintage Technics SL-PG590 player which is remarkably musical. I also have a PG390 from the same era which is less engaging to my ears. Whether they differ internally I have no idea.

 

Well, digital sound has advanced a lot, but I'm not sure that CD sound has advanced so much. The CDB-650 posted a very high quality "staircase" wave (playing successively larger bits) and I never saw anything do that so well again. Actually I never see that test any more. Then again, new mechanisms like jitter and too-steep digital filtering came to be understood.

Higher bit rates advanced digital sound, but now we are not talking CD any more. We are talking audio on DVDs ("HDAD"), DVD-Audio, SACD, and downloaded files.

Sooooo...

I agree with this comment. I would get any decent inexpensive player as a transport, and feed it to a DAC. The DAC can also be used to play back other formats including streamed (MP3 or even lossless) and downloaded files.

I feel the action in digital these days is really in the DAC and DAC/headphone amp space. I think the best sound is achievable this way, because the playback can be made asynchronous and you decouple the playing/data recovery aspect from the D/A conversion.

I would also comment that don't forget about the quality of the ANALOG section, and also the POWER SUPPLY and most importantly the decoupling of the power to the digital part from the power to the analog part.

 

The analogue part is likely to be far more influential. As is the listening environment. I'm not sure about the staircase effect being of particular significance. Sampling, ADCs and DACs are not quite as crude as we might think.

Then again, I disliked CD audio for many years - I did find the sound to be brittle and 'slammy'. I wonder though if this is more to do with mastering than it is to do with inherent flaws in the audio CD red book standards.

The first CD album I listened to was Dire Straits' Brothers in Arms. No dynamics. I didn't like it.

 

On the contrary, dynamics galore...

 

ll

yes very remiss of me. I sm using s tisbury, passive pre? 2 Leak 12 plus. Snd s pair of fully refurbished Leak 2060,s.
I do find s lot of players smooth to the point of being boring.
Its knowing which way to turn.
A lot of solid state amps are bright. Sp i think may be smooth players may be a way of balancing things out.
Something with fire power.
Thanks to all who responded,
I will be checking out all recommendations.
QUOTE="head_unit, post: 13390047, member: 5723"]I see a lot of people looked at this thread but did not reply.

That is because your question is not clear. You want to know what CD player to buy? Vintage?

Magnavox CDB-650 is a classic I am fond of. And there were some later Marantz versions IIRC. Both of which could be modified to even better specs.

But what is the rest of your system? If you are running a surround receiver, I might say to just get a basic player and output HDMI to the built-in DAC. Another school of though would be to buy one of the Oppo players which seem well regarded.

Have you any desire to play DVD-Audio and/or SACD discs?[/QUOTE]

 

DAC technology has come along in leaps and bounds yesterdays "hero" technology is now todays norm, DAC technology is possibly the fastest evolving component in the aduio chain.
Bang for your back have a try with the Bada HD23 or 26/28, all have the ability to place a valve in the signal path for those that like that sound.
The concept of an outboard DAC is sound - use any transport into a separate DAC - cheaper, versatile and easier to swap out.
It is a year or two since I did any DAC comparisons, at that point I preferred Burr Brown chip sets and loathed over sampling.
Technology has marched on - it should be easy to find a unit that matches the rest of your audio chain.

 

The Sony 715 and 715E is a wonderful sounding CD player and you can buy them for next to nothing.
It will see off the vast majority of modern DACs.
It also has a volume control so you can use it without a preamp.

 

Guessing you're UK based... I would look at the Rega Apollo (can be found on eBay £325-£400)

 

Ha

have been listening and bid on Beresford Csiman 7520 se. Its got s day to go so o could leave it get away if the dac you mention is a better one. I really must read up on this ad it seemsvery sound advice. I,m ok on vinyl.
Digital i dismissed unfairly. Thanks for all the advice. I,ll get there.
If spending a £1000 or more really will blow my socks off i would consider it. Nearly every review ends with" but it still runs a poor 2nd to vinyl. Sort of puts you off. Thanks for the kind words T/man.

 

Thank you. Will check it out.
I think it makes a lot of sense to buy something reasonably modern .
May go dac route as has been suggested. Many thanks